Protective effects of melatonin against mitochondrial injury in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most prevalent inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. Besides other pathophysiological mechanisms, mitochondrial injury is crucially involved in the development and progression of this disease. Mitochondria have been identified as targets for the peptide hormone melatonin. In the present study, we sought to evaluate the impact of oxidative stress on mitochondrial density and enzyme transcription during experimentally induced demyelination and the protective influence of melatonin. Adult male mice were fed with cuprizone for 5 weeks which caused severe demyelination of the corpus callosum (CC). Animals were simultaneously treated with melatonin by daily intra-peritoneal injections. Melatonin exposure reversed cuprizone-induced demyelination and axon protection. Transmission electron microscopy demonstrated significantly increased mitochondrial numbers and slightly increased mitochondrial size within CC axons after cuprizone exposure. Melatonin antagonized these effects and, in addition, induced the expression of subunits of the respiratory chain complex over normal control values reflecting a mechanism to compensate cuprizone-mediated down-regulation of these genes. Similarly, melatonin modulated gene expression of mitochondrial fusion and fission proteins. Biochemical analysis showed that oxidative stress induced by cuprizone was regulated by melatonin. The data implicate that melatonin abolishes destructive cuprizone effects in the CC by decreasing oxidative stress, restoring mitochondrial respiratory enzyme activity and fusion and fission processes as well as decreasing intra-axonal mitochondria accumulation.